And the Winner is...

Hey, it's me! I picked 18 out of 24 winners for the Academy Awards this year. 75% correct. Usually I get less than half of them right. (Actually, everybody did pretty well this year. I really tied with Steve, who was very gracious and conceded victory to me since I hardly even win.) It was a fun show, quite entertaining.

I liked the segment where they showed James Franco and Seth Rogin sitting on the couch laughing their asses off at the serious movies. Only Ben Stiller was totally off key coming on in that weird wig and fake beard and acting stoned.

I was skeptical about Hugh Jackman as host, but I enjoyed his jokes and singing and dancing. I missed the one big musical number because I was in the kitchen putting the dinner together. We liked the new format where they had 5 of the previous Oscar winners on stage speaking about each of the nominees' performances. I think it was nice because instead of there just being the one winner, everyone was acknowledged.

I do sort of enjoy it when some of the actresses wear something totally hideous or they are really falling out of their dress, so you can make fun of them. Only Mickey Rourke had a really weird outfit this year to go along with his alien-like body and face. Steve has been keeping up the family tradition that his mom started of mispronouncing names. He was calling Mickey Rourke's co-star in The Wrestler "Melissa Ptomaine."

Well, maybe it's because I actually saw so many of the nominated films this year that I did so well picking the winners. We made an effort to try to see them, going along with all the seniors to the late afternoon matinees on the weekends. I'm glad that Slumdog Millionaire got a bunch of awards. I thought the movie was refreshingly different.

These are a few of my favorite things

I am always amazed at how huge flowers come out of bulbs (and seeds.) It's so dramatic. I bought a bunch of hyacinth bulbs at Sloat Garden Center back in September. I also got this pretty crackled glass forcing vase. My helpful spouse, who needs to have everything put away at all times, shoved the plastic bag of bulbs into a corner in the shed. They sat there forgotten for a couple of months, until I discovered them. They are supposed to be stored in a cold dry spot. It was warm and they sweated inside the plastic bag and most of them had mold on them. I washed them off and left them out (horrors!) to air dry. Then I stored them in the fridge, where I had planned to put them in the first place. Most of them finally got planted in my front yard, where they are now pushing up spicy fragrant flowers.

I took this bulb out of the refrigerator just last week. After one day, it started to open up (see photo at top.) Now look at it one week later:


I was hoping this one would have blue blossoms, but it looks like it's a white one. They were in separate marked paper bags, but the bags disintigrated. I just can't believe that these little bulbs, which withstood so much abuse, are able to turn into such amazing creations so quickly. It's like magic.




Here's another amazing thing. It's a folding plastic spork that came with my salad from Trader Joe's. Isn't it cool? Why didn't someone think of this sooner? It's so compact. You can put it in your pocket and sit down and it won't break. Cool. I would like to give the person who invented this a prize.


I love my Cranergy. I know I blogged about this before. Only 50 calories for 12 oz. and it tastes great. You should buy some so that they will keep making it and I can keep drinking it every day, ok?


I switched to this Crest Pro-Health Night toothpaste last year after my dental hygenist Janice mentioned it. (I love Janice. She's the best. She was talking about retiring, but now...like everyone else, she lost a lot of her retirement savings...I'm secretly happy she's not retiring.) At the risk of sounding like a commercial...after using this stuff for 6 months and going back to have my teeth cleaned, both Janice and I noticed a huge difference...much less tartar.

I designed some new t-shirts and put them up on my Cafe Press shop. Steve asked me to make these as homage to Clint Eastwood in his latest acting/directing project, Gran Torino. I didn't think I was going to like this movie, but I did. The shirts also come in a black version. Steve's boss Eric bought one today. He was my first customer. Having customers is one of my favorite things also.

Speaking of favorites, Steve put up his best 10 movies of 2008 page with his picks for which films will win the Academy Award. I am rooting for Slumdog Millionaire. As for my favorite star, James McAvoy, he was in two of the worst movies of 2008: Wanted and Penelope. Of course I went to see them, because well, it's James. (Even he can't always be perfect.)

I will let you know who the big winner of our Academy Awards contest is after Sunday.

I Miss My Girl

I still sometimes expect to see Esther coming around a corner. I miss her goofiness. I took this photo of her when I was babysitting for little Anthony. This was his chair, but Esther was being territorial and decided it was just the right size for her.


She often would get her ears turned inside out when she was washing her face and didn't seem to mind it. She looks really goofy.


Esther could not resist ribbon. She loved opening presents, especially on Christmas morning. Once when she was a kitten, I had finished wrapping a gift and put it down on the floor. As if on cue, Esther went right over to the package and ripped the bow off with her teeth. She always made us laugh.